Also never be afraid of your Anglophilia, it's hard to resist.
Posted on 06/14/2012 6:50:10 AM PDT by ZULU
John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we have granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry, archbishop of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, subdeacon and member of the household of our lord the Pope, of brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple in England), and of the illustrious men William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Warenne, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland), Waren Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of Poitou), Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, John Marshal, John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.
(Excerpt) Read more at bc.edu ...
I try to post this every year at this date.
Not all our rights came from Magna Carta, but it was one of the key elements in the evolution of liberty in the English World, an evolution of many centuries whose end product is our Constitution. A LENGTHY and PAINFUL evolution which goes far towards explaning the FAILURE of other nations to achieve anything like what our Founding Fathers achieved. They stood on the shoulders of giants - giants lacking in other cultures.
Pardon my Anglophilia.
I am also an Anglophile, but I fail to see the significance in this document. Edward I, Edward III, Henry V, Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth ruled with more power over their subjects than did Alfred, Stephen, or any of the Saxon/Dane kings in between. The only thing the Magna Carta tells me is that John was a weak and unpopular king that put his weakness in writing to save his head. Never understood the Magna Carta hype.
Also never be afraid of your Anglophilia, it's hard to resist.
A very powerful document outlining some basic liberties in a kingdom that was, no doubt, wrought with corruption and crime. I read this every year when you post it, Zulu. Thank you again for your Anglophilia.
Thanks for the article. Some of the signers are in my family tree.
We need the worst ruler in America’s history to sign something like that.
The Magna Carta wasn’t considered important until fairly recently in history. Shakespeare’s play about King John doesn’t even mention it.
Giants indeed. What a glorious century that was.
Thanks for posting this.
The abridged version begins, “To whom it may concern...”
1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever.
Gee Whiz!! I think it was very significant regardless of what the post Magna Carta rulers did as to ‘power’.
It was the embryonic spark of liberty and the concept that the ruler governed by consent of those he ruled.
“We need the worst ruler in America’s history to sign something like that.”
We should start with this one!
Furthermore, it proclaimed that freemen (non-serfs) could not be punished except through the law.
FWIW - John was my 21st GGF three different ways and my 22nd GGF a fourth way.
While he may have been a weak king but he had a truly exceptional mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Magna Carta was part of abegining in the evolution of political thinking in England.
They almost got it right when they beheaded Charles I, but made the mistake of replacing him with Cromwell. But the sons and grandsons and great grandsons of that experiment tried it again here in 1776 and got it right.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Are you.....................FRENCH??????
Just the story of this "Great Charter" is fascinating in itself as a prologue to repetition in history. An overweaning ruler over-extends and is forced to permit his opposition to restrain him. Later he repudiates the restrictions but the effort ultimately fails with his death.
This Magna Carta came into existence as an expedient document full of compromise to assuage the current conflict. That it still speaks to us today as the first restraint to absolute power 797 years later is one of the glories of our history!
Happy 237th Birthday to the US Army and Flag Day for the Star Spangled Banner!
Thanks for your support and I agree with you TOTALLY.
Hey cousin! He's my 20th GGF... through the DeMontagu line.
1. Our Declaration of Inedpendence, in its introductory clauses, which set froth the compact theory of Government, and the right to rise against a Government that violates the purposes for which it was created, reflects how important Magna Carta was conceptually to those who founded America.
2. It clarified property & inheritance rights in a Feudal era, where everything had been determined from the top down, previously. It also granted & protected marketing rights.
3. It not only recognized the right of people to rise against the Government, it set up a mechanism for their doing so. (This was left out of subsequent republications, but I note that the one posted, here, has the mechanism, in place.)
4. The concepts of Government & liberty in Magna Carta are the direct opposite of the dogma being promoted by the Left in the West since World War I--and in some circles since the French Revolution. It is, like our Declaration, a very Conservative document; a rallying of those who would defend what they had achieved against encroaching central power.
William Flax [Truth Based Logic]
But but but... Bill Maher said there's nothing exceptional about American culture.
I join with you both in my admiration of Old England.
The current incarnation of Londonistan, not so much.
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